Buried Wreckage
by Neon Ghostie
Summary: One one hand there's an extremely passionate girl, and the other there's an emotional wasteland of a boy. Maybe they can teach each other something. GaaraXOC [and other minor pairings]
1. Beginning

Beginning

"Sora-kun, do you see that?"

"… It… looks human…"

The two guard-nins nodded to each other then turned to mumble in the ear of the guard next to them, and so the pattern continued until every shinobi there was aware of the approaching figure. Every single one of them kept bringing a hand to their weapons then letting go, unsure of whether to move into an offensive or defensive position.

Out of the swirling sand a battered female emerged. Her clothes were badly torn and barely holding together, leaving a lot of skin exposed to the elements. Several kunai were sticking out of her back, arms, and legs along with many needles. The wounds were bleeding profusely, and the guard-nin Sora was the first to jump down from his place, and land in front of the girl. His comrades protested loudly but he huffed and ignored them.

"I am Tamaka Sora of the Hidden Village of Sand." He started. The girl took another step forward and he noticed the unsteadiness in her movements. He rushed to continue. "Who are you?"

The girl stopped in front of him and her green eyes locked with his. "K-Kamichi R-R-Rai."

She opened her mouth to continue but the muscles in her face went slack and her legs fell out from under her. She collapsed into the sand and slipped slowly, and totally unwillingly, into unconsciousness. Sora bent down beside her and threw her arm around his neck as he snaked an arm around her waist. He heaved her upwards as a large amount of guards stopped in front of him.

"Get a medic-nin quickly," He said to half of them and when they had run off, he turned his attention to the remaining half. "Alert Baki-sama and then get some patrols to scout the area. We don't know who, or what, attacked her."

"Hai!"

Sora glanced mournfully down to the girl and frowned. "Let's hope you're strong enough to withstand this, Kamichi Rai."

- x - x -

"Gaara… Kazekage-sama."

Baki pushed open the door to the Kazekage's office slowly, peeking his head in the door. Gaara stared at him from his seat behind the desk, barely raising an eyebrow or showing any signs that he heard him. Baki slipped in and bowed apologetically before he spoke.

"I'm here to report that an unknown ninja has found her way to the village. She's been badly wounded, and she's being taken care of. We've sent out patrols to check the border's for her attackers but so far no one has reported anything."

Gaara nodded slowly, but refrained from saying anything. Baki was far too used to his silence to mind, and proceeded to bow his way out of the room. The door thudded shut behind him, and only at that moment did Gaara respond.

He clasped his hands together on top of the desk and sighed. Not out of frustration, but out of curiosity. "I guess I have a trip to make."

**A/N: Muaha. I love the fact that this is so bloody short. Okay, so I'm lying through my teeth, but you didn't need to know that, did ya? I apologize for the length of this chapter… prologue… thing, as well as the overall shitty-ness of it. I'm not one for loving my own writing, so you can argue if you feel like it.**

Oh, and if you don't like that I'm writing a GaaraXOC story, then navigate away from my story and get over it. I don't appreciate flames, because honestly they're pointless. Just because YOU don't happen to like my pairing decision doesn't mean everyone else will shun it. I like it, and I chose it because I liked it. I don't mean to sound rude, but I'm letting your know that your protests are going to fall of deaf ears.


	2. One : I'll See Her Eventually

Rai was reluctant to open her eyes. When she woke up, almost a week later, she wasn't ready to have to explain herself. She wasn't ready to face all the strange people who were definitely going to bombard her with questions. She'd love to answer them, well not _love_ but she wouldn't mind, but Rai couldn't really remember anything about that day, It took all she had not to leap out of this bed and demand to know how she got here. Nope, she wasn't going to do that. She was going to lay her, eyes firmly closed, and listen to the medic talk to… someone. As far as Rai could tell (she'd been listening all day, you know) this person had been here the whole time she was out. He never said his name, and didn't talk much. He was always interested in how she was doing. It was unnerving.

"Do you really need to change her bandages again? I thought you did that an hour ago." The stranger asked.

Rai could almost feel the medic wince. "It's bleeding quite badly still. It's already soaked through. See?"

She wasn't sure what happened next, but she guess it had something to do with her bandages.

"I see."

There was another lengthy silence while the medic changed Rai's bandage, quite forcefully, and then left. Rai almost clapped in relief but didn't. It would probably hurt too much anyways. Another few minutes went by, only the swirling gusts on sandy wind outside making any sort of noise.

"I know you're awake."

Rai's muscles tensed and she didn't move. She hadn't moved for the past… day. How in the world did _he_ know she was awake.

"When the medic was changing your bandages, I noticed you peeked. You have green eyes, right?"

Rai gulped and opened her eyes, staring determinedly at the ceiling. "Yeah, that's right."

"See, I knew you were awake."

She didn't move, she wasn't going to give whoever it was the satisfaction of knowing she was even the least bit curious as to who they were, but she didn't have to. They came to her. She heard him push back a chair, then his footsteps on the floor, getting closer. They stopped nearer to her bed, and she looked around.

"I'm Kankuro." He said, neither politely or in a gruff manner. "I've been here for a few days."

Rai nodded her head slowly, but even that little bit of movement caused her to wince in pain. "How long have I been out?"

He chuckled. "A little over a week."

Oh, that's funny is it? Rai could just tell she wasn't going to like that silly little chuckle of his at any point in time. It was idiotic, stupid, degrading, condescending, and patronizing all at the same time. "Does a few days count for a whole week?"

"More or less, I did leave to eat and go to the restroom."

"Ahhh."

"Someone had to watch you though." Kankuro sighed. "I wasn't excited for the job, but I can't argue with the Kazekage. Don't take it personally."

Rai snorted. "I won't. No ninja, assuming you are, would want to sit around and watch some stranger for a complete week when they could be out on some mission. I wouldn't, anyways."

He laughed and nodded. "So you're a ninja?"

"Well, I was. Am I well enough to continue being one?"

"Yeah."

"Then I am."

"Hmm."

Kankuro didn't much of anything else after that, he didn't seem like much of a talker. Rai wasn't sure whether to talk to him or not. He could be just spying on her, trying to get information, which would be probable but also stupid. Rai didn't keep many secrets, if she did at all, and if you wanted to know something about her all you had to do was ask. She wasn't going to hide her name, her age, her rank or anything of the sort. It wasn't like it was classified information or anything. You could ask for her records if you really wanted to know.

"The Kazekage wants to meet you." Kankuro mumbled after a while. He looked up and locked his gaze with Rai's. There was some sort of expression in his eyes, something Rai couldn't place. "He's surprisingly interested in how you're doing. He's been down her quite a few times."

The way Kankuro said it, it made it seem like a bad thing. Or something she should be worried about. "No offence or anything, but I plan to leave before I make too many acquaintances."

"None taken. I'm sure you'll meet him eventually though."

There was an awkward silence after this, Kankuro standing at the edge of her bed, a lopsided smile on his face. She didn't know much about this kid, but he seemed alright. So much for not making acquaintances.

- x - x -

"She's awake, Gaara."

"I heard."

Kankuro gave his younger brother's back a questioning look but didn't say anything. He was after all, the Kazekage, and every bit of information seemed to pass quickly through the town. "You still want to meet her?"

Gaara thought about it. "Yes, I do."

"She's planning to leave, you know. So you might make it quick."

Gaara almost laughed, if he did laugh that is. "Leave? From what I've heard she can barely move without writhing over in pain, and she thinks she can leave?"

"She's one determined shinobi." Kankuro said, a chuckle escaping his lips.

"Hm."

A gust of wind blew past them, making the only noise on the rooftop for a while. Gaara turned around to face his brother, deep red hair contrasting the white colour of his skin. Kankuro's smile faded from his face, and he took a step sideways, moving away from the stairway downwards. "I'll see her eventually."

Gaara then took slow steps toward the stairs, and then down them, stopping everyone once in a while to peer out the windows and onto the village. Kankuro waited a good ten minute before walking down the steps after his brother. He wasn't sure what was going on in Gaara's head, he was sure it was nothing bad, but he was afraid to find out.

**A/N - I'm trying to stay as IC as I possibly can. If you see some OOC action, I apologize. If it's like major WTF THAT'S NOT WHAT THEY'D SAY/DO/THINK then say something to me and I'll attempt to fix it. If it's something minor, then it's really pointless to say anything, because either A I've already noticed it myself and I'm trying to change it / I'm not particularly bothered. Or B It's part of the story and you have to get over it. XD 3 **


	3. Two : I'm a walking hazard

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, nor do I claim to, so please don't sue.

Chapter Two

Rai wondered how pitiful she looked right now but she was sure she looked pretty pitiful. Of course, even if there were someone around to ask, she was sure she wouldn't get a straight answer out of them. No one had yet to actually speak a word to truth towards her, except maybe Kankuro, and those honest moments were few and far between. She was hobbling around, barely grasping the concept of crutches. She was a _ninja_ for god's sake, a decent one at that, and she couldn't even use crutches to save her life. The pad (which reminded her of a hot dog bun) felt stiff and uncomfortable under her arm and she didn't trust the skinny wooden objects to support her weight while she tried to move forward. It didn't seem like a logical thing; yet here she was, trying to navigate her way through the large city of sand she'd spent the last week in on these horrible crutches.

Kankuro thought it was downright hilarious to see the girl struggle with such a simple concept and every time he passed her in the street, or came to see her at her hotel, he couldn't resist cracking smile or outright laughing. She really wanted to punch him or something, but her range of movement was pretty limited as of late, as he kept reminding her.

That's another thing that made her nervous about using crutches: the lack of control over her general movement. The bandages that were wrapped tightly around her arms, legs, and abdomen where quite constricting, so even if she were to finally get the hang of the crutches when she got her bandages off she'd have to re-learn how to use the damned things. In her opinion, this was too pointless an act for her to bother with. Let her hobble around without the things, but the doctors here made her _swear_ to use them until they deemed her fit enough to walk and Kankuro was not about to pass up a chance to torture the girl.

Rai turned town a dark alley between two tall, beige buildings and hoped there wasn't anything she could trip over lying in her path, and continued on.

Sunagakure was an all-around odd town, she noted. She had seen her fair share of crazy cities, towns, and even little villages in out of the way locations, but none of them compared to this. The ninja's here were dressed in heavy clothes when she was about to parade around the town completely naked because she was convinced it would be more comfortable that way. Kankuro wore all black and bloody hat for god's sake! How could he stand it. The people here were gossip mongrels with no common decency. They could be talking about the person standing behind them for all they cared, as long as the gossip was good enough. Granted, most towns gossiped, but there seemed to be a designated time for everyone to gather and talk. It made people like her, strangers, feel out of the loop and un-welcome. Kankuro and Temari helped a lot with that. She didn't understand how just knowing them made people welcome her, but it did.

Then there were the buildings. From the outside they were spectacular, even if they were slightly drab colour-wise, but inside was another story. Rai wasn't even sure there was a word invented that could properly describe them. Most of the windows didn't have glass panes in them, which gave her loads of opportunities to just sit around and feel the wind blowing. The rooms were scarcely furnished, expect for in her hotel room, but it seemed to work. They were beautiful and cosy and all those other things you wanted from a room without much help.

Rai lifted the crutches up and set them down at a safe distance in front of her and went to put all of her weight on them to hop forward when she heard a sort of crunching noise and felt one of the crutches - the right one she thought - slip. She fell forward and tired to move her arms out in front of her fast enough to catch her fall but it turned out she didn't need to.

Someone's hands were on her elbows, lifting her up and steadying her. A faint blush creeped onto her face as she looked up at the stranger. She couldn't see much due to the dark night sky overhead and the lack of a moon, but she could make out enough features to know she had never seen this person in her life.

He didn't say anything and she was afraid to say anything. He had this air about him that intrigued her and scared her simultaneously. His deep red hair was the first thing she noticed about him, and the second thing was his clothing. They looked like robes but she couldn't be quite sure in this light. She could tell they were mostly white though.

"Thanks for… um, catching me." She whispered timidly. "That was a close one."

The man just nodded and kept his mouth shut. Rai couldn't tell if he was about to say something, or if she should just walk away. She glanced to his face again and inwardly sighed in frustration. The expressionless void that was his face gave her no clues to what he was thinking, although it _did_ tell her that he was quite attractive…

That wasn't that point.

Rai bit her bottom lip and decided that if she didn't speak in the next minute she'd move around him and head back to her hotel, if she could find it.

After what felt like almost ten minutes (she felt bad at giving him only a minute, so she waited around longer) the kunoichi gave up and started to move to bend down and get her crutched to leave when he bent down much quicker than her, grabbing her elbow on the way back up, handing her crutches back.

Rai felt an annoyingly familiar heat creep onto her face again and hoped that he couldn't see it in the dark and mumbled a quiet "thank you" before turning on her heel to move past him. His arm shot out and stopped her. She turned to him and gave him a confused look.

"You're going to trip again." He gestured to another rock beneath her crutches, his face still lacking any emotion at all.

"I'm a walking hazard, I supposed. I'm bound to trip sooner or later. I'll just be going now. See you…"

"I'll walk with you. Just in case you trip." He said.

He spoke in such a quick and quiet manner she had to strain her ears to hear it. She wasn't even sure he'd said anything until his hand was back on her elbow, turning her back in the direction in which she was originally headed, and he had planted himself at her side, waiting for her to make the first move.

"You don't have to you know. I'm really quite capable of walking the rest--"

"I know." He said, just as quietly before and considerably slower..

She wondered what he must think of her and settled on the conclusion that he thought her a bumbling idiot who couldn't even walk properly without making a fool of herself. Although at the present moment she couldn't deny that she did come off as exactly that but it still didn't make her feel any better.

She took a deep breath and started her slow and awkward walk back to her hotel, a complete stranger in tow. Even so often she slipped on another rock again and he was there, as silent as ever, to catch her and put her right without missing a beat. It irked her how it didn't seem to faze him that right next to him a girl was tripped over rocks and everything else it seemed, he didn't even seem to skip a beat. She was sort of jealous and she mentally beat herself up over being jealous of a stranger for no good reason.

"Thanks for walking with me, although I think I would've been just fine on my own." She said trying to make a joke out of it as they stopped in front of the hotel.

"I'm sure you would have." He whispered his voice lacking emotion.

She was sure if someone else had been in his place, that comment might have had a sarcastic and humorous intonation, but not with him. With him it sounded indifferent to the point of being a little cold.

"Okay well, I'm going to go in now. Thanks again, uh…?"

"Gaara."

"Right… Gaara."

She turned around slowly and walked through the open door way, stopping to turn around. He was still standing there, his face starting quiet intently at her own. She felt another blush rise to her cheeks but she didn't look away, she couldn't look away. The man behind the desk mumbled something and she turned to answer him and look back quickly but Gaara was already walking away and she could have _sworn _he had a smile on his lips.


	4. Three : Can I get attached?

-1**AN:** I AM OFFICALLY THE WOST AUTHOR EVER, YEAH. I suck with deadlines, not to mention I'm wicked lazy. I'm so, so, so, so sorry! So here I am presenting you with the next chapter of this silly little story. I'd like to thank everyone who's looked at this, reviewed it, and added it to their alert list. My computer doesn't like responding to reviews, but I'm trying to convince it it's really a _wonderful_ thing. Without further ado, I give you the next installment.

PS. You can thank Jack's Mannequin, PotterCast, & MugglecCast profusely for getting me to write. It's just something about pianos, and people over-analyzing things that makes me feel smart and motivated.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto, but if I did… Gaara would prance around without a shirt on, Kakashi as well. Hell, every man would.

**Chapter Three**

"Oh, heh… Sorry, sir! I really didn't mean to--"

"It's fine." He cut her off, quickly silencing her with his gruff manner.

He glanced down at her, his face hidden in the darkness before moving to leave.

Rai looked at him and bowed her head, mumbling apologetically again before sidestepping him and moving to continue on her way. She hadn't meant to bump into the man. Hell, she hadn't even realized he was there until she did bump into him. His dark clothing helped him to blend into the darkness around him and she was sure that was his intention. She didn't sense his chakra and she narrowed it down to two reasons. One, he had hidden it from her or two, he didn't have any. He could have been a civilian for all she knew. It weirded her out that she'd run into him. This was not her first night time stroll since ending up in Suna but she'd never run into anyone. From what she could tell, if anyone was out during the nighttime hours they were at bars or clubs, far from the side of town she was on.

She kicked a pebble lightly as she walked briskly down the dark alley she found herself in. The kunoichi never paid much attention to where she walked, her feet led her where her sub-conscious mind wanted to go. Not that it would matter, she mused to herself, you'd go the same place if you had to think about it. Without another thought she agreed with herself and continued walking.

Ever since that night a week ago when she met that red-headed man she walked to the same spot just outside this alley where he helped her. Not that she was expecting him to be there again or anything, she just liked the reminder of it. She didn't tell Kankurou about it, feeling bad about doing so when the man appeared to be her friend and could possibly tell her who the person is, other than his name.

_Gaara_.

She surprised herself by not hunting him down. Something told her it wouldn't be worth her time if she did. If he wanted to see her again, she told herself one night after walking back to the hotel, he obviously knew where to find her. When she exited the alley, smiling lightly as the moonlight shined down on her, she noticed a door on one of the buildings was propped open. Not wide open, but just enough that she notice and maybe slip in herself.

She didn't even take a minute to think about it before her curiosity took over her mentality and forced her to slip in through that door, climb up the dark stairs that were right in front of her, and exit through the metal door at the top. She looked around before she stepped out onto the roof, feeling highly exposed but very exhilarated.

She giggled when she sat down on the edge of the buildings roof and swung her feet like a child. It was nice up here. It was several stories up, yes, but there was something about being able to look down on a whole city and watch the various going-on's intrigued her. She couldn't ever do this in her village. When she was back home, she was just a foolish little kunoichi who wasn't really talented at all, but here she wasn't like that. People were interested in her, they were kind to her, and they respected her to a certain degree. It was nice.

No one had asked her yet why she stumbled into Suna in the state she had. It confused her. Since when did other ninja's let anything like that go unquestioned? She was sure the Kazekage would have sent someone down to question her about it, or that maybe Kankurou would have mentioned it but he never even brought it up. That's not to say she would have talked with him about it anyways.

Her home was a sensitive issue with her. It wasn't very pleasant back there. She was deemed weaker solely for the fact she was a female. She was talked down to, disrespected, and often forced into very… emotionally breaking situations. She hated it there. Her life was decided for her, she wasn't allowed to decide anything for herself. She did become a ninja though, and that made her happy. As pissed as her brothers were she was sure they'd make her quit, but they never did. It was like they expected her to do something like this.

She heard a scuff of a shoe behind her and clutched the side of the roof to steady herself, she pulled her legs back from the edge and whipped her head around, completely ready to scold whoever it was for scaring someone like that, when she caught sight of who it was.

It was the Gaara.

She pushed herself into a standing position, mentally willing herself to look calm and confident, but her nervous tone betrayed her when she addressed him.

"G-Gaara?" She asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Hn."

She watched him for a few moments, sometimes flicking her gaze away from him and up towards the stars above so she didn't seem like she was staring at him. Every time she looked back at him she mentally noted something about him. He had teal eyes, unruly red hair, and a stiff yet relaxed posture, and very curious clothes. He wasn't in the white robe this time, now he was in a maroon outfit that, she had to admit, looked very good on him. She wasn't dressed in much, just shorts and a black shirt with mesh sleeves. She didn't know it, of course, but he was silently studying her as well. His eyes traveled from her dark brown hair that shined oddly in the light, her grayish-blue eyes that crinkled at the edges when she smiled, then down the rest of her body then back up again to rest at her face. He was curious about this girl, there was no denying it, but his instincts told him he'd discover everything he wanted to know in due time.

"I didn't expect to see you again," she said nonchalantly, turning her back to him and moving down into a sitting position again.

"I followed you." He said and she heard the scuff of his sandals as he moved closer.

Forcing herself to look forward and ignore him, she raised an eyebrow. "Oh, followed me? Why?"

Gaara stopped walking and sat down next to Rai, crossing his legs in the Indian-style and said nothing.

Rai snorted. "Am I that interesting?"

Gaara looked at her, face void of emotion. "You could say that."

Rai smiled at him sheepishly and looked back towards the stars.

And so it went like that for weeks. Rai would take her nightly walks, and Gaara would appear, literally out of nowhere, and sit next to her. They shared very little conversation, but it was enough that she started to understand the sort of person Gaara was. She liked the feeling she got around him. She didn't feel like she had to talk, or explain herself. She just knew he understood. Or maybe he didn't, but he never said otherwise.

"Rai?"

Said girl looked to her left where Gaara was sitting and 'hmm'-ed softly.

"Why hasn't anyone come looking for you?"

The corner's of her mouth tugged downwards into a small frown. "I… I don't know, actually."

"Hm."

"Why do you ask?"

He didn't answer for a moment, just staring at her. That was a little unnerving at first but she'd gotten used to it. He was making sure it was the right choice to proceed based upon the words he wanted to use and her mannerisms. That's what he told her, anyway, when she asked him about it.

"From when you mentioned about your family," He said a little hesitantly. "They're worried about letting you make your own decisions, leaving home and staying here are your own decisions. I'm guessing that they're not to happy with that."

She snorted. "Gaara, contrary to popular belief, I am not some wimpy little girl. I am considered an adult therefore able to make my own choices. I could stay here if I wanted, of course if I would be allowed."

"Wouldn't then try and bring you back home?"

She paused for a moment. That was a possibility. She wasn't sure what lengths her family would go to bring her back if they really wanted to. "Yes, I suppose the would. If I had to go back, I wouldn't go back without a fight. I wouldn't go back willingly."

If Gaara knew how to laugh without sounding like a maniac, he would have laughed right now. "You're a kunoichi, of course you wouldn't."

"If I requested citizenship for Suna, d'you think the Kazekage would allow me to live here?"

Another moment where Gaara would laugh. "Yes, I think he would."

"How do you know?"

"I have an in with him, according to the villagers."

The brown-haired kunoichi laughed. "An 'in', eh? Nice job."

Rai pushed herself up from the roof, brushing the dirt and sand off her bandages and flexing her muscles. She waved to Gaara and started to leave. She always left before him. ""Night, Gaara-kun. I get my bandages taken off tomorrow. I wonder if Kankurou would start training with me?" She added to herself.

Gaara waited until she was heading down the steps before leaping from the rooftop to rooftop back to the Kazekage tower and slipping through the window. He sat down into the chair behind his desk and smirked and the sitting figure of his bother in the corner.

"Kankurou, she wants to train with you tomorrow. She gets her bandages off."

Kankurou chuckled and nodded. "I think you're getting attached, Gaara."

"Maybe. Am I able to get attached?"

Kankurou didn't answer until he left the room and was a good distance down the hall. "It doesn't matter if you think you're able. It's far too late little brother."


End file.
